


seeking asylum

by justjoy



Series: once upon a timelord [6]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Daleks - Freeform, Gen, Post Episode: s07e01 Asylum of the Daleks, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-01
Updated: 2013-03-01
Packaged: 2017-12-04 00:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/704166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justjoy/pseuds/justjoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The moral of the story is simple: do not mess with the Doctor.</p><p>This is why Daleks beg River Song for mercy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	seeking asylum

**Author's Note:**

> Set after _Asylum of the Daleks_ ; major spoilers for the ending if you don't already know it. Inspired by the Dalek's reaction to River's name in _The Big Bang_. 
> 
> Also, this is probably the most Doctor-lite fic I've ever written, so here goes.

He turns to River, and she can see it there, a question in his eyes.  
  
From the way he hesitates - long enough for it to be significant yet not quite enough for something truly personal - she can already guess what it is, so his words do not surprise her when they come.  
  
“River,” the Doctor finally says, almost as if he can’t decide whether he should continue what he’s started. “Tell me, what did you do to the Daleks?”

* * *

The world is on fire, and she distantly registers the pressing heat of destruction on her metal casing even as her gaze flickers from one security camera to the next, fingers flying over her keyboard as she keys in a seemingly unending stream of commands to disable what few obstacles still stand in the Doctor’s way.  
  
(“Run!” Oswin yells frantically at the screen as the Time Lord barely manages to dodge an explosion that she contains one second too late, and she cannot help but imagine her words repeated aloud in the shattered scream of a Dalek - even though she is acutely aware of everything else, she still hears the voice as her own, a small blessing that she is thankful for.)  
  
Then finally, _finally_ , they disappear from the teleport, and she sinks back into her chair, adrenaline washed away by relief, only to be drowned by the cold realisation of what is about to happen.  
  
Daleks do not feel fear, the Doctor says, and for a moment Oswin almost wishes that was true, because she is so, so scared, because she doesn’t want to die and doesn’t want to do it here, where her mother and her home and her world is so many galaxies and a metal casing away.  
  
( _My name is Oswin Oswald I am not a Dalek I am_ human - )  
  
So she does the next best thing, conjures herself a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows floating on the top, kicks back at the console and lets herself pretend that everything is going to be all right. Because hoping was something people did, and she will let herself hope, if it is the last thing she ever does -  
  
\- and, as if some higher power who watched over geniuses stuck in metal pepperpots had heard her, there is the sudden sensation of someone’s hand on her casing, cooler than the scorching heat of fire but still wonderfully warm.  
  
“Come on, I’m getting you out of here,” a female voice says, bold and brash and Oswin likes its owner immediately.  
  
Then there is an unfamiliar and rather unpleasant sensation of being pushed off a high cliff, but Oswin isn’t complaining at all because that means she’s going _somewhere_ , and anywhere at all is better than here.

* * *

Reality comes back to her in a flash, the sensors embedded in her casing reactivating right before her screen lights up to show her saviour looking at her, mildly concerned expression tinged with a hint of apology.  
  
“All right in there? We’re back on the Parliament planet. I tried to account for the casing, but I don’t go around transporting Daleks by the Vortex Manipulator everyday.”  
  
“All systems functioning,” Oswin responds after a quick check, before her attention returns to the most pressing question on her mind. “Who are you?”  
  
“Who, me?” She looks up from the black strap on her wrist, clearly far more accustomed to this form of travel than Oswin herself is. “River Song, otherwise known as the Doctor’s wife.”  
  
“Aw damn, and here I was thinking that I still had a chance!” is her immediate response, earning a chuckle from River before the words really register in her mind. “Wait, if you’re his wife… why don’t the Daleks know about you?”  
  
River shrugs. “Circumstances. We had the handfasting in an erased timeline, and we’ve never gotten our timelines in sync enough for a proper ceremony in this one.”  
  
“That’s cheating,” Oswin retorts with a pout.  
  
“I don’t play fair. Don’t worry, we’ll send the Daleks an invitation to the wedding,” River answers flippantly with a grin. “And they’ll definitely know who I am after this night.”  
  
It is the last comment that piques Oswin’s curiosity, although the Daleks are sadly underequipped to communicate such values as inquisitiveness, seeing as there was little need for it. “What happens tonight?”  
  
“The Daleks kidnapped my husband for a suicide mission, and took my parents along just to increase his chances of succeeding. I happen to be very good with guns. Need I say more?” Despite the levity of her words, River’s expression darkens to something unforgiving as she speaks. “Coming?”  
  
Oswin considers those words, and thinks about the fact that she’ll never be able to see her mother again without terrifying her half to death even if they get out of this place alive.  
  
(She knows that they will, because there is something in River that resonates deep within herself, and Oswin thinks that she has finally figured out what it is: neither of them will go down without a fight, and both are built for that above all else.  
  
The Daleks have so _much_ to answer for.  
  
It is only a matter of choice, really, and somehow, she knows the answer before she even says it, has known it ever since the Doctor looked at her with those terribly sad, old eyes and said _I’m sorry_ \- )  
  
“Well then, you’ve come to the right person.” Oswin swivels her eyestalk back up to look at River’s face, already starting to calculate viable routes for damaging attacks, her human mind melding seamlessly with the fighting instincts of a Dalek. “Where do we start?”

* * *

Much of that night is a blur in Oswin’s memories, except for one particularly clear moment when she recognises the transformation technology with a sharp jolt, the bitter burn of bile deep in her throat.  
  
( _MY NAME IS OSWIN OSWALD AND I AM HUMAN_ \- )  
  
It does not stand up well to unrelenting blasts from a Dalek gun on maximum power, and the machinery is already an unrecognisable pile of melted metal long before River pulls her away to rejoin the fray.

* * *

And she is right, the Daleks fear River from then on, her very name spreading like wildfire in the hive mind throughout time and space as the Doctor’s had once done. What they hadn’t expected was for them to learn the name _Oswin Oswald_ as well.  
  
Oswin does not know when they heard it, and River will not tell.

* * *

 _They took Amy and Rory._  
  
 _They took you._  
  
 _You could have died that day._  
  
 _The Time Lords were my people too._  
  
There are so many answers that River can give, so many things that she can say.  
  
She remembers the broken, raw pain in his voice when he told her about the Asylum, and the brilliant genius of a girl that he’d promised the stars, but failed to save in the end.  
  
But the Doctor also hates guns with a passion that River has long since come to understand, even if she does not share it.  
  
(And the recollection comes, unbidden, of metallic screams that tore clear across the sounds of a battlefield, unmistakably Dalek yet so very _human_ \- )  
  
In the end, she gives the one answer that she knows he can live with, noble man that he is.  
  
“Nothing, my love,” River answers with a smile. “I merely taught them something they should have learned a long time ago.”

**Author's Note:**

> Possibly more than a little out of character for River and especially (what little we know of) Oswin because I wasn't thinking quite straight when I was writing this, but decided to post it anyway. (Personally, I prefer to think of it as giving a darker interpretation to both their personalities, but that's probably just wishful thinking.)


End file.
